Hinata & Yumei
by Katie.Madison
Summary: Angry, ashamed and completely FED UP with herself, Hinata Hyuuga feels like pining after who she wants is becoming an enormous waste of time. Out of options, she wants to give up. Can one omniscient stranger change her mind and help make him fall in love with her? HinataXNaruto! UNDER RE-CONSTRUCTION!
1. Paper Screens & Useless Screams

**Disclaimer: **I do _not _own Naruto. If I did,_ this_ would not be taking so long.

**Hinata & The What-?**

_**-**__Paper Screens & Useless Screams-_

Hinata Hyuuga lay face down in her bed, body trembling uncontrollably from exhaustion and stress. She had been crying and as a result, unable to sleep the entire night.

And the night before and the night before _that_ night.

She let out a small grown and fisted the expensive sheets underneath her.

Hinata was growing tired with herself, hearing her own muffled cries constantly vibrating around inside her head and performing the same ninjutsu every morning to cover up the residual blotchy red colour on her face. Pulling the satin sheets tight, she shifted onto her left side so she faced the sliding doors overlooking her own private garden. The upper-part of the closed doors were made of a thin cream-coloured paper, painted with intricate ink designs to allow a delicate and subtle design of light to fall upon the hardwood floors at exactly the crack of dawn.

Remembering a sweet memory, she momentarily allowed herself a little smile and closed her eyes,.

On the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Hanabi, her younger sister, had hand-painted those paper screens and without a word of fore-warning, came into her room at exactly eleven fifty two pm and replaced them when she thought the elder was sleeping. When Hinata approached her about them discreetly during her birthday celebration that evening, her sister's pride had not allowed her to say anything but her feelings were written in her eyes, a mesmerizing and unique shade of off-white, more purple than Hinata's more blue-toned ones.

After the party, as a content Hinata was just in that state of pre-sleep bliss, Hanabi had crept in to the room laid down on the bed beside her and began to cry. Instinctively, the elder Hyuuga had hugged her sister and whispered soft whispers into her ear until she calmed down. Then, the two had held hands, talked and giggled as young girls often do until Hanabi fell asleep with her head tucked under her sister's chin, hands still intertwined. Hinata had stared at those screens the whole night, her arms full with her precious sister and heart even more full with happiness.

Those screens were the first present Hanabi had given Hinata in ten years and the beginning of a still kept tradition of giving the other secret hand-made gifts on birthdays.

That morning, as she woke her sister up to go to her own room before anyone had noticed, her eyes had burned with tears of happiness and pride, of what her sister had been brave enough to do.

Hinata shook herself out of her reverie. Frustrated, she flipped onto her back and threw the sheets back, suddenly angrier with herself than she had been all week. With the way she was acting now, she was not worthy of being that brave little girl's big sister.

_'Hanabi' _she thought, lifting a hand to rub at her eyes, '_she's coming back from her first foreign mission today. 'Oh no.'_

The worst part of Hinata's depression had to be creating a perfect superficial, happy expression and greeting her friends and family normally, as if nothing was wrong. Hanabi would be the most difficult to keep up her facade around especially since the two had bonded over the last years and could see through each others' lies quite well.

Hating the aches in her body from tossing around in bed awake, she got up and made her way to the sliding doors, pushing them aside to take a step out. She sat down on the external walkway and looked ahead. A beautiful bouquet of _pink, orange and white_ buds stood in a clay pot slightly to the left. It was a thoughtful gift from one of her friends Ino whom she had confided her novice gardening aspirations in.

The accompanying note indicated that the flowers needed minimal care and bloomed beautifully in the summer. Ino had given her the flowers three days ago but she just _could not _plant them.

She could barely bring herself to touch the perfect combination the flowers' two colours made.

She whipped her head to the right, feeling incredibly silly. Ino was a lovely, well-meaning friend but she did not _know_ her well enough to know how deeply she could be affected by _freaking_ flower colours.

She did not want the flowers, daresay even hated them, but could not bring herself to throw them away either. That pot represented her very own personal hell.

And a very masochistic part inside of her thought she deserved to be reminded of it even at home.

She exhaled slightly and pushed herself up with her hands, she did not have a mission today but promised to be there for when Hanabi returned even if nobody else knew she was there.

She was just about to close the door when she heard a loud crash simultaneous with a female voice mumbling, 'Crap!' and another more muted 'thud' sound.

Hinata went perfectly still and activated her Byakugan.

The pot had fallen over and broken, its flowers and dirt tumbling out. Beside the pot was a girl who presented no traces of chakra, laying face down, legs twisted out oddly to the side. Wondering how she had managed to get past the clan's impossibly tight security network, she turned around, getting into fighting position, ready to battle the strange girl if need be.

"Ehehe, sorry about that! I'm just getting used to this!" she said, flipping over back onto her feet quickly, stumbling a bit but managing to remain upright.

"I just, wow! Uh, don't worry! I'm not here to do any harm!" She said, throwing her hands up into the air. The sleeve of her dress caught on a branch, disturbing a family of nesting ravens that cawed loudly before flying off in all directions, raining black feathers on her head..

"Sorry... Again... _Man,_ this is more difficult than I thought." She said, swearing softly, lowering her hands and clasping them behind her back where they could cause no more damage and rubbing small circles into the ground in front of her with her bare feet.

Hinata found herself holding back a smile; her mannerisms were similar to those of the genin-aged Naru-

"What are you doing here?" She said, lowering her hands but not de-activating her Byakugan. There was nobody else in the vicinity other than some maids working two rooms to the left, changing the linens, but a ninja could never be too certain while facing a stranger.

"I am here to meet you, of course," she said looking up from the little circles, "And it was not easy either, let me tell you! I swear all the guards around here have like _eyes_ in the back of their heads."

_'Here to meet me? Why would she be here to meet me? _She thought but instead asked, "How did you get in here?"

"I flew."

_'She flew? What? Oh no, wait! From the Akatsuki, that blonde man, I heard he flew around on a giant clay bird, maybe she does something similar. But that takes amazing ninjutsu capabilities; I can't even sense any chakra on her, unless she is hiding it.'_

She decided to dismiss it, and tell the guards later to reinforce their aerial surveillance and ask the more imminent question.

"Why do you need to see me?"

"I'm not really sure," said the mysterious girl honestly, shifting to rub small circles with the other foot instead. "I disobeyed my superiors' rules and they were upset with me. They said that I needed to learn my lessons so they sent me here as punishment, most likely."

"They sent you to see me as_ punishment_?" Hinata asked surprised, thinking '_I've been called awkward but..'_

"Well they did not _specifically _say anything to me; they never do, to me or my brothers and sisters. However, wandering through these lands I was _drawn_ to this village, this compound and now, to _you_, and I'm sure _they_ have something to do with that. They always do."

She said the above statement with a defeated air as if there was no rhyme or reason to her superiors behavior and no point in asking.

Hinata was _completely _dumbstruck and had no idea how to react to what she was saying. So she settled for remaining silent and analyzing the perplexing girl. The most obvious thing about her was that she was extremely tall, Kakashi sensei's height or even taller and as skinny as a pole. Despite the height, she had a childish face, puffy cheeks with dimples, full lips and unruly grey bangs framing wide-set dark eyes. Her apparel was unusual, a floor-length, wide-sleeved white gown with multiple sashes tied to the dress haphazardly, seeming to have no real purpose or aesthetic value.

The girl had a lovely voice, Hinata noticed, since she could not stay quiet for more than thirty seconds and she found herself randomly wondering if she was a famous singer who had suddenly become crazy. Then she cringed at her own craziness. Nonetheless, she found no harmful intent in the girl, so she fully de-activated her Byakugan.

"What is your name?" she asked.

Her eyes widened subtly and she picked up the speed of the leg making the circles."M-m-my name? Uh, well you see, I have a name. And the name that I have is an extremely good name. It is a very normal an-and appropriate name as all good names are."

Hinata hoped she did not sound like _that_ when she stutters.

Hinata considered if this was some sort of prank Kiba was playing on her but this level of creativity is not something he possessed. Maybe, it was Shikamaru? But Shikamaru would have been too lazy to pull this prank off and he did not have the incentive. But that meant that there was a giant, flying, baffling, nameless girl standing in her gardens because she was supposedly drawn to her.

Which was even _more_ ridiculous than the thought of Choji on a diet.

"Well, what do people _call_ you, then?"

"Everyone calls me a different name."

"Then how do you know when to respond?"asked Hinata, patiently, as if the girl was a young child.

Here, the girl grinned brightly, stood with her feet together and showed of her childlike dimples while looking up, "It is something I learned through experience. Everyone says different things, uses different sounds to call me, but the language of their thoughts is a unified one. I respond to that language."

Hinata was speechless once more as she watched the girl attempt to put the flowers back into the pot. She closed her eyes, trying to figure out the intruder and upon re-opening them, saw the grey haired girl sitting cross-legged on the ground, with the fixed and re-filled pot in between her thin legs. She was absent-mindedly touching each orange flower, turning it's petals blue and each white flower;s petals' violet.

Hinata watched transfixed until she was done.

"I think," said the mysterious girl getting up, "the blue, pink and purple look better, neh?" She approached the paralyzed Hyuuga and presented the pot to her with a small smile and an innocent tilt of the head.

"What do you think, Hinata-chan?"

"...I-I" She stuttered, mentally panicking, '_How does she know my name? Her uncanny ability to ask about the flowers, could she, does she know? How c-'_

"Hinata-sama! Hinata-sama," a male voice called from outside her bedroom door, "are you in there?!"


	2. The Yumei Hidden In The Closet

**Hinata & The What-?**

- The Yumei Hidden In the Closet -

Hinata silently thanked every god she had ever heard of as the male began to knock politely, providing her an escape from the omniscient girl's question.

"Yes, Ne-Neji nii-san!" she said, turning to face the door. "I am sorry! I overslept and am just finishing up g-getting ready!"

"Okay Hinata-sama. Should I come back later?"

"It's fine. Just give me a moment!" Hinata turned back; brows furrowed as she glared at the girl who had the pot tucked under one arm as she trailed one long finger across the paper panel's intricate design. 'What am I going to do with her?' she thought. She considered just telling her to hide but that would probably make her ask why and she did not have time to be answering her inane questions.

"Quickly! In the closet!" she whispered, pulling the girl into her spacious walk-in closet. She pushed her into the left wall, hiding her behind multiple evening gowns and fancy kimonos. The girl was so fascinated by the patterned silk that she obliviously hugged the closest one to her body, rubbing her cheek into the soft silk around the bust. Even though she knew the strange girl did not mean anything perverse, Hinata being Hinata, blushed at the action. "And stay quiet!" she mumbled before stepping out of the room.

She checked her vanity mirror before opening the door to let her cousin into the room. There was still a slight pink tint in her complexion but Neji was accustomed to her shyness, and ignored it.

"Hinata-sama, I did not wish to disturb you but you made me promise to let you know if I were to leave for a mission longer than a week, so I have," he said, rather pink himself. He was not used to having anyone worry about him, since his father's death and despite his genius intellect, had not really figured out the proper way to go about talking to Hinata.

He turned to exit the room and wass just about out the door when Hinata contentedly replied, "Thank you, nii-san, I appreciate it a lot. Take care of yourself, alright?"

He looked to the floor. "...Yes," he said, taking off quickly in one direction, then when Hinata closed her door, doubling back, realizing he was actually supposed to be going the other direction.

Leaning across the door, Hinata let out sigh. If he had caught her, she would have no idea how to even begin to explain to Neji why she was hiding a strange girl her closet.

"Wow! This dress is so huge, I'm a whole foot taller than you and it would be too big on me!" she said stepping out of the closet, holding up a pretty white cocktail dress with a very roomy top.

Hinata blushed deeply. Obviously, she realized she was curvier than most girls, but she was not that big.

"I could probably wear this dress with a clone of myself and the bust would still be too big!"

Hinata grew so red that she could have passed out from all the blood rushing to her face. Okay so she had been blessed by having nice tits, now could we please move on? She shook her head furiously, trying not to faint and managed to get her skin colour down to a less dangerous shade of red.

"Stop that, that's em-em-embarrassing and r-r-rude!" she managed. The grey haired girl showed no signs of regret, and frowned instead.

"Women are supposed to be proud of having enormou-" Hinata ran forward and reached up, covering her mouth with a hand realizing how loud the two had gotten.

"Well, I don't. Regardless, you and I have to keep it quiet in here."

"Why?"

And there was the inane questioning she had been trying to avoid.

"You aren't from here and could be seen as an enemy of Konoha seeing that you don't even give me a name to call you by and say all these strange sayings. It'll only complicate things if others know you are here," she said plopping down onto her bed, chin propped up in her hands.

"I don't have a name to give you! And what do you mean strange sayings! I haven't said anything strange since I got here!" The girl said completely ignoring the point, throwing her hands up in the air.

"What about the unified language of thoughts?"

"What about it?"

"That is a strange saying!"

"No it is not! The language of thoughts is a very legitimate, ancient and normal language. Ask anyone of my family members and they could tell you volumes about it. And if we were really talking about strange sayings, I think it is stranger for a woman to be embarrassed by having large breasts."

"..."

"You know I am right."

"Ah, I give up," she said with a sigh.

The dark-eyed girl placed the flowerpot she had been carrying the entire time on to the floor. She frowned and picked it up again, moving it a couple feet to the left, smack in the middle of the room. She murmured something inaudible and picked it up one more time before throwing it in the air, Hinata startled forward to catch it but it did not fall. Miraculously, the pot split in two, forming two smaller pots and she caught both of them deftly. Then she placed one on both of her nightstands.

"When are you leaving?" Hinata asked suddenly. This girl was something but oddly, she felt inclined to look out for her and knew that the Konoha people were too smart to mistake her for a normal person. 'How long do I have to hide you for?'

"When I have determined and executed the punishment that has drawn me to you."

"Does that have a time frame?"

"Before you die, hopefully."

"EH?... Um, we should probably give you a name then."

"Why? If you ever wish to call me, just think of me and I shall be there."

"If you must stay here with me, you have to have a name. I can't hide you forever, so you'd have to interact with the people in my life. They'll already be skeptical of you because you're a stranger and they'd be even more skeptic if you didn't give them a name," she said rationalizing her decision. Internally, she reflected on the girl. 'I know you are not here to kill me, since you could have already with the state I was in this morning but I'm still skeptic of you too. You seem honest and harmless, but I know better.'

"Okay," she said without much contemplation, how much could having some useless human label hurt? "Give me a name."

Hinata straightened up a bit; she did not expect the girl to give in that easily. She thought of all the female names that she knew. By some cruel fate, all the names that were coming to her were of flowers, and that did not sit well with her. Additionally, a name with such a delicate meaning did not suit the girl who had busied herself with figuring out the mechanisms of an aerosol can in the washroom. She brought her knees up to her chin.

"Well, what do you like?

She stopped shaking the can to look at her, mouth scrunched to the side as she thought of a response.

"You know what I really like? Well, a while back, a few months after I first got here, my body became really tired, so I lay down, yeah? And automatically, my eyes closed! And then, there were all these really cool colours and shapes of people and places I had seen all jumbled together. It was so beautiful and for some reason, it made me feel happy because all the people there spoke good things about me! Then, when my body recovered and I opened my eyes, they were gone! I really liked those colourful things; in fact I want my body to get tired soon so I can see some again!"

Hinata smiled slightly as the girl moved on to examine her hitai-ate, feeling the grooves in the metal.

"Yumei," she said, eyes softening as the girl raised the band over her head, changing the length of the fabric until its ends touched the floor.

"What?"

"It means dream, among other things and it's a good name for you, non-descript, meaningful and elegant."

"Yuuuumaaaayyyy," she said suspiciously, as if it were the name of an unknown drug, or suspected arsonist, stretching the syllables out before nodding once.

"Meh, it's okay."

Hinata forced Yumei to stay on the bed as she got ready for the day. She rushed through her shower, anxious about what disaster she might have caused but instead found that the girl was harmlessly flicking through the pages of a clothing magazine on her nightstand. Byakugan cautiously activated (she had seen how inept Yumei was with her awkward body), Hinata combed her long indigo hair and double-knotted her hitai-ate and was just about to apply some lip balm.

"What's the point of buying boots, if you are going to buy _open toed_ boots?" asked Yumei, turning the magazine's orientation to look at the pull-out posters. "And why would I bother buying a skirt that is only six inches long? Why wear the skirt in the first place? Might as well wrap some coloured toilet paper around your hips, it'd probably be more useful..."

An undignified snort left her lips as continued flipping the pages. Yumei flopped onto her back and leaned off the side of the bed, grey hair pooling on the floor as she read chapter 41 of the shitty romance story featured in the magazine.

Hinata was somewhat relieved. Since Yumei was obviously from a different place, she thought she might have to teach her all the tedious social norms of Konoha, but she definitely had an opinionated and logical head on her skinny shoulders so she could at least _reason_ her way through social situations.

Hinata finally applied her lip balm, giggling over some earlier memories of Sai's adventures when he was re-integrating with the mainstream. Nowadays, he was more or less just as awkward as everyone else but sometimes he would say something oblivious just to get a rise out of the others. Well, he only _really_ tried to annoy Sakura and Ino since they were the most appearance-conscious out of all of her friends.

She frowned slightly, thoughts distracted as she placed a couple an extra hundred yen in her inner coat pocket. _'Ino-chan and Sakura-chan always look so put together. Maybe I should try harder to look better too.'_

At that, Yumei perked up a bit.

Technically, a being of her level was not supposed to be able to read individual thoughts aside from normal summoning, or calling rituals but after ten months of punishment, Yumei just _might_ have picked up a thing or too, you know, by _accident_.

"Hinata-chan, it is going to be hot today, why wear such a heavy jacket? Wear the purple one in the closet," she suggested casually.

...

The first person that the duo encountered was one of Hinata's caretakers from when she was a young girl. Stuttering to a halt, Hinata sucked in a breath. She was worried about what the maid would say about the tall girl but the wrinkled lady simply smiled and bowed, completely unperturbed.

Hinata relaxed a bit and went to the clan's eating rooms. The only occupants were late night workers too tired to go grocery shopping, cook or eat out and newly independent young adults, relaxing with other late teens. Hinata waved to the small clusters and proceeded to the back room.

_' If the rest of the village fell apart, these guys would still perfectly fine. Clean, efficient, and organized, I wonder how they came up with this incredible support system...' _thought Yumei, unknowingly falling behind as she paused to examine all the labeled rooms of the main hall. She stopped in front of a large painting framed by lists of names.

'_Oh wow, a painting of the Hyuuga founding father. He has no pupils! Just like Hinata! I wonder what purpose these white irises serve...I'll ask Hinata-chan.' _as she turned around to do just that, she noticed Hinata was not beside her. She looked both ways and found a figure with identically coloured blue hair leaning into the 'Records' room. Speeding forward, she placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Eh, Hinata-chan? What's the- Oh no..." The indigo-haired _man _looked at Yumei with an annoyed expression and narrowed _his_ white eyes. Just as she was about to step back, another man stepped peered out of the room, with the same hair _and _eye and colour!

"What's the problem, Rae-san?" he said.

But before the annoyed man could respond, Yumei had bolted, '_Oh shit! All these Hyuuga look exactly the same! No way, this is crazy! How do they even recognize each other? Hinata! How am I going to find her?! WHY?"_

-Thankfully, at that very moment, Hinata was thinking about Yumei, so Yumei interpreted the thoughts and flew straight to her immediately.

"Why did you go? The food was going to get cold," Hinata said, her Byakugan would know where she was but it was a hassle to activate it for everything.

"Just exploring, but like I said, just think of me and I'll be there just like that," she said casually, as she took the offered plate and ate.

They left the Hyuuga compound and Yumei noted that every single inhabitant, had white eyes.

"Hinata-chan," Yumei asked as they leapt across rooftops to get to the front gate, "Why are your eyes white?"

"Oh, it's our kekkei genkai, the Byakugan," she explained, "All the Hyuuga are born with it. When activated, it grants us 360 degree vision, the ability to see through solids, infrared etcetera and the ability to see chakra patterns in human bodies."

"Oh, that why your veins were all bulged out this morning? That is so awesome! No wonder, those guards were so alert, they probably saw me coming a mile away!"

"Ten actually."

"!"

"Well, ten is my personal limit, but I'm sure there are better wielders than I in our clan, the Hyuuga are very talented. I'm honoured to be of my lineage. I'm still astounded as to how you got in."

"Well, first I tried sneaking in but whenever I'd get close someone would throw a knife at me. So after thirty four failures, I gave up, flew a mile in the air and landed as close as I could get," said Yumei as they came to their destination tree. They sat down and Yumei began swinging her legs back and forth. "To them, it probably looked like an unfortunate bird died in midair in and dropped into your gardens."

Hinata nodded and they fell into a comfortable silence, Yumei examining the crowds below and Hinata looking ahead, Byakugan activated until she found Hanabi's chakra 9976m Southeast.

All of a sudden, Yumei started giggling uncontrollably. The giggles transformed into a full-fledged guffaw. In fact, she laughed so hard she fell out of the tree, only to float back up _still _laughing.

"Hinata! I-I-I can, I ca-can't e-eve-even," she managed to choke out before doubling over again to the grounds.

The Hyuuga patiently waited until she was finished. Finally, Yumei calmed down enough to ask,

"So like Hinata-chan, you can see through people's _clothes _can't you?"

This time nobody was around to save Hinata, so the poor girl had to endure all of the flying girl's embarrassing questions. Five minutes in, Hinata thought, _'Well, now I won't blush around Naruto again. I think I've filled my blush- quota for the next century.'_

"Oh hey! Another Hyuuga!" cried Yumei waving at Hanabi. The younger girl looked ecstatic, even waving back to the stranger and blowing her sister a kiss before rushing off with her teammates to go celebrate.

The Hyuuga and the flier were just about to make their way back when they heard a pleasant sounding female voice call Hinata's name.


	3. Too Good To Be True

**Hinata & The WHAT-?**

- _Violations & Confessions -_

Yumei quickly landed on a nearby branch and attempted to casually lean against the trunk.

Hanabi had not noticed she was flying so _hopefully_ this girl did not either.

Hinata turned and waved when she saw who it was, Ino Yamanaka, the girl who had presented her the flowers.

Hidden, Yumei studied the girl as she came closer. She had long yellow hair, bangs covering her left eye and her visible eye was blue. She wore a dark purple skirt and top showing off a well-maintained body and a dark green jacket thrown stylishly over top. She neatly jumped on to the branch Hinata was on and gave her a charming smile. "What's up Hinata, did you plant the flowers yet?"

A more different girl than Hinata could not have existed.

"Actually, I re-potted them and put them on my bedside tables instead. I really liked them, Ino-chan, thank you."

"Don't mention it! I love flowers so it's nice to encourage other enthusiasts."

"Alright, oh! By the way, Ino, this is my friend, Yumei."

Yumei stepped into view and stuck her hand out, "I'm Yumei, nice to meet you."

Ino shook the hand and asked, "Where are you from, Yumei?"

"Her parents were from Yumegakure, but after her mother passed, Yumei has been traveling. I met her after the war when we were assigned to help out the villages that needed it the most. She let me stay with her during my mission, so I offered to let her stay at mine till she leaves." Hinata replied, unusually confident. She had been thinking of that response the whole morning and liked the plausibility of it since ninja were sent all over the place that year and nobody kept perfect paper records.

Ino nodded. "That's terrible and you're so young! What seventeen years old? Although, traveling abroad has always appealled to me. Konoha is spectacular. I hope you enjoy your stay! And Hinata, call me when you take her shopping! I found the _cutest _new boutique for dresses!"

"You like shopping, huh?" asked Yumei conversationally.

"Of course! Shopping is my favourite pastime and I'm really good at it. I got these open-toed boots for Billboard brow's fifteenth birthday and now they've totally exploded all over the runways."

"I see," said Yumei coughing into her sleeve to hide her psychotic grinning.

"Although, I wouldn't go for them if I were you, you're too tall! You're probably even taller than Gai sensei! You should totally rock the new short jackets though. You can wear them over anything, including that dress you've got on. Oh shit! I've got to get back to my squad and make sure they don't spend all my money. Your sister did really well by the way, she is a fabulous chunin. And nice meeting you, Yumei," rushed Ino.

"Bye Ino-chan, that you for the tip and have a good lunch," Yumei called as the blonde jonin jumped off to find her team.

...

"You admire her, Hinata-chan," declared Yumei as they shouldered their way past the growing lunchtime crowd. The grey-haired girl had complained that jumping through trees was too exhausting, so they had decided to walk back.

"I-I do. She is a good ninja, beautiful and so _confident_ in everything she does. Plus she was able to... Never mind," she said, then stopped suddenly, turning away.

"Plus she was able to _what_?"

"I said, never mind!"

"Yeah, you did. But what you _meant_ is that she did something that was incredibly brave that you couldn't, and are now ashamed to talk about."

"..."

"You know I'm right."

"Yumei, s-s-stop reading my m-m-mind."

"Well then stop thinking so _obnoxiously_ loud. I swear my family could probably hear your angst, and they live light years away. "

"..."

"Meh, don't worry. My siblings have better things to do. However, I don't. So if you don't tell me; I'll still peep in and look."

"You w-w-would be v-v-v-violating me, which i-i-is wrong."

"Please, you already_ violated_ me this morning with your Byakugan, and who _knows _how many other countless victims during your lifetime. In fact, your whole family was probably violating me as I was walking around your house! They may have even been violating each other! How perverted!... You know I should violate your pervy mind right now, but I'm not going to because I don't want to see all the perverted things you've seen unless I _absolutely_ have to," she ranted.

Hinata raised her hand to argue but moved it to press her forefingers together instead. "It's not that important really, it's just that... She _moved on..." _she blushed.

"Moved on from what?" asked Yumei, even though she had a pretty clear idea of what the Hyuuga heiress was talking about.

"Sasuke Uchiha, a boy that she used to like. When we were kids, she was always really open about liking him and never shied away from him. But after he left Konoha, she was able to stop liking him, move on from him and become even more outgoing, loyal and nicer. And now that he's back, they've become good friends! _She_ probably _never_ wasted any time whining about unrequited feelings..."

"And you haven't moved on."

"I-I-I."

"No wait, you haven't even told him have you?"

"NO, I DID, but during some really stressful times."

"So he thought it was just a heat of the moment thing."

"W-W-Well he m-m-might h-h-have."

"He did, trust me. Boys are as dense as rock when it comes to this kind of stuff, he probably just rationalized it. When did you tell him, anyway?"

"While he was a-a-almost d-d-dying in the m-middle of a fi-fi-fight during a w-war."

"..."

"Yumei?"_  
_

"WHY DIDN'T YOU FREAKING JUST TELL HIM IN HIS SLEEP? You know what? NO. At least in his sleep, he might have _subconsciously_ remembered it. That doesn't even _count _as telling him!"

"Oh no!"

"Oh no is right! But don't worry you can always mmm!-"

Yumei's sentence was abruptly interrupted as Hinata suddenly covered her mouth and pulled them into a roadside alleyway.

"What was that for?" yelled Yumei, swatting away Hinata's hand.

"Yeah Hyuuga, what _was _that for?" asked a male-voice in a teasing tone.

The two girls reflexively turned to find the speaker, a man leaning on one of the walls comprising the alley. Partially shadowed, his clothes; a pair of dark blue pants, a short-sleeved, high collared white shirt and a dark green jacket, identical to Ino's, thrown over top, were the only things visible.

"S-S-Sasuke-kun! I-I-I..." Hinata looked at the floor, touching her forefingers together again.

_'So this is Sasuke. Mysterious with a nice voice, females do love those qualities,'_ pondered Yumei trying to rationalize the beautiful Ino liking him.

"And who is this?"

"I-I-I," continued Hinata, completely fixated on Sasuke's first question.

Then the man looked at Yumei, expecting an answer from someone.

"Ummm," said Yumei as intelligently as she could. _'Oh crap! What was the name of that village Hinata mentioned? Yunagakure? Yuhakagure? Why do humans insists on having such long, completely, totally unrelated names fo- oh wait.'_

"My name is Yumei. My parents were from_ Yume_gakure, but I've been traveling ever since my mother's death. I'm staying with Hinata-chan," she said, proud that she had uncovered Hinata's helpful little detail in her 'back story.'

Sasuke scrutinized Yumei for a bit before he finally looked back to Hinata, disinterested in the over-grown teenager. He recommenced mocking Hinata with a smooth, sarcastic voice, "What, did Naruto actually _look _at you this time? Or were you just standing so close that you had to pull away or risk fainting?"

Yumei was about to say something when a higher-pitched male voice shouted, "Aye, Sasuke-teme! Me and Sakura-chan have been looking for you for ages! Why do you always hide in these alleyways, huh? You're so creepy." Its owner came around the corner wearing similar sandals and pants with a black t-shirt under a bright orange jacket. He also wore a head-band around his forehead and a pissed off expression on his face.

"Because unlike you, dobe, the girls who have crushes on me, run _to_ me, not _away _from me," replied the addressed man, stepping forward into the light. Yumei observed his proportionate, masculine and symmetrical features on pale skin, contrasting black hair and eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean, bastard!? Oh hey Hinata and girl who is really-, oh holy shit, you're even taller than Kakashi sensei! And that guy is tall!"

"My name is Yumei and I-"

"Dude, you've got four whole inches on Sasuke! Well not including his hairstyle but _still_. But that means you've got six inches on me! WHY? ARE YOU EVEN HUMAN? Maybe you're wearing high heels. NO YOU'RE NOT WEARING HIGH HEELS! YOU'RE NOT EVEN WEARING _ANY SHOES_!"

As Yumei's ears regained their human hearing ability after the blonde's very effective air _attack_, she vaguely realized that Hinata's left side was pressed against her lower back and that she was hyperventilating into the white fabric. Blinking wind-blown dry eyes, she dislodged herself from the Hyuuga's pale hands and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Are you _done_ yet?" She asked darkly, moving forward to loom over the blonde. His blue eyes widened as he took a step back.

"AH! Oh no wait! I, uh, it's okay if you know, you _are _not human and like a monster! I used to be called a monster too, but you know, I, uh, I got used to it, and it's uh, not _so _bad and uh, yeah," he blabbed in response, putting his hands up in surrender.

"I am not a monster. My name is Yumei and I am a friend of Hinata-chan's," she explained in her normal, happier-sounding tone, turning to look at her host for confirmation.

"Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-_yes_," she stuttered out with more difficulty than normal. Yumei raised an eyebrow at the petite girl but she was intently focusing on joining her forefingers together as quickly and forcefully as possible and did not look up.

_"He must be whoever Hinata-chan likes then," _reasoned Yumei. "What's your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki! The soon to be Hokage of Konoha! Believe it!"

"Also known as, the number one knuckle-headed ninja, dead-last, the stupid-looking o-"

"TEME!" he screeched, pressing his face up close to Sasuke's he whispered, "Must you always try to show me up in front of girls?"

"I hardly think he needs more girls," Yumei said honestly as she motioned for their little group to exit the now claustrophobic alleyway. If Naruto moved any closer, Hinata was going to blow up.

"Ah man! Don't tell me your one of the members of this teme's fan-girl association!" shouted the blonde as he moved forward and poked the dark-haired man in the stomach. Luckily, Yumei had thought to cover her ears with her hands to protect her eardrums from the onslaught of air from his _ridiculously_ loud voice.

Just as Yumei was about to say no, she was simply observing the fact that he must have quite a lot of determined female followers if he was forced to hide in alleyways to avoid them, they heard, "NARUTO YOU BAKA, I told you to find Sasuke, instead you make me find the both of you, ugh!"

_'Oh brother, it really is truly a blessing from the council that these people are not irreparably deaf with the amount they scream. They even seem to be immune,_" thought Yumei as she observed that both Hinata and Sasuke's reactions did not convey any pain at the freaking dolphin-pitched voice that had called out for Naruto. Sasuke looked mildly amused as the green-eyed screamer walked up to Naruto and proceeded to beat the crap out of him while Hinata's pleasant pink blush had left her face leaving a sour expression in its place. Yumei was torn between pulling the girl off of Naruto and letting him suffer for the angst caused by his obliviousness.

She settled in between. "HELLO, uh, hello? My name is Yumei and I'm a friend of Hinata-chan's! Nice to meet you! What's your name?" she yelled, sliding into the gap between the girl's pulled back arm and the blonde's abused face.

She let go of Naruto's black shirt and smoothened her pink skirt before smiling up at Yumei, "Sorry about that! I'm Sakura Haruno, jonin of Konoha! Nice to meet you too, Yumei!" As she smiled back, Yumei noticed that Hinata's expression was a forced neutral. Oddly, she felt as though she was betraying Hinata, so she bowed to Sakura slightly and returned to Hinata's side, crossing her arms behind her back.

Sakura in turn, skipped over to Sasuke's side and whispered something coyly into his ear causing him to shudder, nod and step forward.

"Since Naruto returned from his mission in Sunagkure in under four days, I have to take him out for ramen at Ichiraku's. Sakura wants to come. Would either of you be interested in joining us?"

Here, Sakura's mouth dropped to the floor and Yumei could hear her thoughts shouting clear as day, even clearer than during a summoning, The pink-haired ninja, seemed to possess a very literary conscience unlike Hinata who thought more in waves of feelings '_What the Hell! I wanted Sasuke to invite just me, not these two! Argh, I know Hinata doesn't like Sasuke-kun but that giant flat-chested one might. Damn it!"_

Yumei inhaled sharply. Even though Yumei had fully consciously created her human form to be flat, (it would simply not do to be a supernatural being with large breasts, nobody would take her _seriously_) she found that she was offended, not by the comment, but by the malicious intent with which it was said.

She tried to hide the new vicious expression on her childish face by turning in the direction of the Hyuuga complex. "Hinata-chan, I think we should go back and figure out why I am-"

"Yeah! Hinata-chan, come with us! Watch me spend all of teme's stupid inheritance!" Naruto interrupted, somehow _completely_ recovered from his injuries.

"N-N-N-Naruto-k-k-kun, w-w-w-we, shou-shou-should b-b-be-"

"Come on Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled before leaning down to whisper in her ear, "Let's order the most expensive items on the menu, with _extra _pork, yum!" He clasped Hinata's hand tightly and zipped off in the direction of the restaurant.

Yumei smiled at Naruto's innocent gestures then sighed; knowing that there was no way Hinata would miss up the opportunity to spend time with her crush. She turned her dark eyes on the blue and pink haired ninjas behind her. Somehow, Sakura had managed to convince Sasuke to allow her to hold onto his elbow but he did not look too happy about it, hands stuffed in his pocket and a twisted scowl on his lips.

Yumei coughed once before valiantly third-wheeling along, trying her best to avoid conflict by not conversing much, without seeming _too_ quiet like a stalker.

Eventually, they caught up to the other two, finding them sitting down before full bowls of ramen. Naruto was happily pouring an assortment of spices and vegetables into Hinata's bowl while she blushed at his closeness and murmured for him to stop.

Ordering quickly, the other former members of team seven took their seats; Sakura on Naruto's right, Sasuke on hers with Hinata on the far left. Yumei took her time entering, reading the kanji on each individual front panel all the while ducking awkwardly so she would not hit the ceiling lights.

However, soon the chef got tired of her blocking, so he had made her the house special and very nearly commanded her to sit down and eat it.

Yumei fumbled around with the chopsticks and her own long fingers, highly amused by the over complicated way in which humans ate their food and looked to her left and caught sight of all four ninja, hunched over their own bowls, slurping in unison.

Everyone at the table seemed so happy that even Yumei could not help the weird churning sensations in her stomach as she watched Hinata hand Naruto a napkin.

_'They divide so sweetly into two couples, even if Sakura disturbed me at first, I can still admit she cares very deeply for Sasuke. Now all everyone has to do is acknowledge each other's feelings! Maybe then I can focus on figuring out why I am so drawn to Hinata...' _thought Yumei as she finally got the hang of using the utensils.

The group conversed lightly, ordering more bowls of ramen, sharing stories and laughing over Yumei's first impressions of Konoha.

"Eh, Sakura-chan, you said you'd never come on a date to Ichiraku's with me but you are! And I don't even have to pay, right teme?" blurted out Naruto as he slammed down his empty eleventh bowl.

"This isn't a date, with _you _Naruto," replied the green-eyed girl, staring googly-eyed at Sasuke who was neatly wiping his mouth on a napkin.

He frowned, looked at his two former teammates and said, "I'm not taking anyone on any date_._"

"Sasuke, I hate you! You always come in and steal my thunder and now my girl too!" said Naruto accusingly. Sasuke merely rolled his eyes before laying down his money and exiting the stall with the same scowl he entered with.

"Shut up, Naruto! I'm not, nor will I ever be _your _girl!" Sakura screamed standing up, "Sasuke-kun! Wait up," she said, running out to catch up with him.

"I'll get that date one day, Sakura-chan! And then that stupid teme will be the one without anyone!" said Naruto confidently before counting the money Sasuke had lain out. "Hey, there's still enough for two more bowls, who wants one more?"

By the time he turned to his left, Hinata was already gone, the waving of the stall's front flap the only indication she had ever been inside. He turned to Yumei, shrugged and ordered one more for himself.

The grey-haired girl was dumbstruck to the point where only one thought was running through her head.

_'What the FUCK just happened!?'_


	4. The Simple Plan

**Hinata & The WHAT-?**

_- The Simple Plan -_

"Wait, wait, _wait... _What's going on? Why do you want to go on a date with Sakura?" asked Yumei disbelievingly, moving to sit directly beside the eating blonde as though what had just occurred was an illusion that could be broken if she got close enough to it..

"Because I like her," he replied around a mouth full of noodle, "like, _like _like her, you know what I mean." He jabbed Yumei in the gut to emphasize his point and winked, not twice-

But _thrice_.

"I see," she said, rolling her eyes, "I meant, why do you bother trying to get Sakura-chan's attention, if she does not reciprocate your feelings?"

"She likes the teme, I know," said Naruto, in a surprisingly calm manner. He swirled the chopsticks around in his soup and somberly continued, "but Sakura-chan's my first love, and I won't lose her to him! He doesn't even like her-"

"So _the sole _reason you're pursuing Sakura-chan, is because you can't stand the thought of her being with Sasuke and because she was the first girl you liked?" interrupted Yumei.

"Hey! It's not just that!" He said indignantly. "Me and her have history together! We've known each other for eight years and she is the _closest_ person to me! Well, teme's kinda close to me too... but that's not the point!"

"So in other words, as the alternative to pursuing a homosexual relationship with Sasuke, or having to find another girl who understands you and makes you feel comfortable, you want to be with Sakura, whose personality, character, looks etc, however _charming_, mean nothing to you at all. Although a real hassle, I can defi-" she started thinking aloud, unknowingly she spoke at the speed of thought, letting the words flow unrestricted.

So the chef, his daughter and Naruto's jaws all dropped to the floor at the high frequency noises the tall girl seemed to be speaking with.

"... AHHH! I'm going to be with Sakura-chan! BELEIVE IT!" he shouted, beginning to sweat bullets of confusion at the inhuman speed of Yumei's speech.

"Sorry Naruto, but I don't believe you. You may be a determined kid, but you have nothing on us," she replied at normal speed. Absent-mindedly, she patted his sweaty blonde hair murmuring something about 'perpetually irrational homo sapiens' and set off to the Hyuuga compound.

Naruto scratched the back of his neck, confirmed he most certainly was _not _a kid by asking the still shocked chefs and ordered another bowl or ramen.

...

Three hours later found Yumei sitting upon Hinata's nightstand, running her hands thorough the newly coloured flowers, watching Hyuuga of various social class and importance rushing in and out of her room. Yumei had turned herself invisible so as to not be seen, upon Hinata's advice but was aching to find a way to help her family find Hinata and could not think of anything while to do while remaining invisible and unnoticeable.

They all looked so worried, desperate, frustrated and above all confused, especially the man she had addressed as 'Nii-san' in the morning and the girl from the Konoha gates. The girl appeared to be in tears and would go hide behind the aforementioned man to sob a bit before resuming the useless search for Hinata. The Hyuuga family had too much pride to call her in as 'missing' but had employed all four hundred and thirty six available clan members to find her as well as members from allied clans.

However, no trace of the petit indigo-haired girl was found.

Yumei had expected as much. Naruto had basically slapped everyone in the face with his misguided affections for Sakura and since seemingly everyone _but_ the oblivious ramen-lover knew about her affections towards him, she would have hardly been able to show face.

Yumei tried to think of a way to find Hinata without actually violating the girl's thoughts and forcing her back, but with her ten kilometre radius vision, Hinata would probably be able to hide, long before Yumei could spot her in the unfamiliar terrain.

So when she felt the familiar sensation of springing up into someone's thought, Yumei exhaled a huge breath she did not know she had been holding in. The celestial being flew wordlessly over to her host and allowed her to hug, cry, and scream into her white dress as they sat cross-legged within a cave that had been transformed through genjutsu to look like a waterfall.

She sang the distraught twenty-year old soft ballad tunes as she held her long after the skies turned dark.

...

When morning came, Hinata had realised that she had reached a record. She had gone five days without an hour of sleep because she was in so much mental anguish. Her body was now unbelievably sore, worse than it had been after even the chunin exams. She raised a hand to wipe away the dried tears that were always there but felt clean skin. She tried to remember what had happened the night before but could not recall anything but a series of over-lapping melodies.

Hurriedly raising herself up onto her elbows, she saw her willowy make-shift pillow friend drawing something on one of the cave walls. She was contorting the letters on the wall to re-arrange themselves into different orders, not-stopping until she was satisfied.

Then she took a step back and centered her hands, almost as if she was copying Ino's Mind Transfer Jutsu.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan! Naruto will be yours soon enough. See, what we must do is actually quite simple. Since Naruto is after Sakura, all we have to do is make _Sasuke_ reciprocate Sakura's feelings, while simultaneously integrating you into the equation through playing off your personality and empathy," she stated, drawing a circle in the wall. She touched the circle's interior and it turned black, sucking all of the used letters away.

"When Sasuke and Sakura become a set item, Naruto won't break them up, because he likes both of them too much. Then all we'll have to do is show you to him in a more 'datable' way and he'll realize you two are more than compatible and simply meant to be!"

Without waiting for a response, Yumei grasped Hinata's hand and flew them back to Hinata's room in the Hyuuga main house, thinking, '_You humans are always over-complicating things! This is all quite simple actually.'_


End file.
